dirk nowitzki

Yes, it was against a middle of the road team in the big bad Missouri Valley Conference, but this was one of the more satisfying season openers in recent memory for Penn State. Perhaps it was the game’s opening play, a 95-yard kickoff return by Chaz Powell that quickly put the Nittany Lions on the scoreboard.

Maybe it was mentioned previously, but I was unaware that Paterno was going to using both quarterbacks, Rob Bolden and Matt McGloin, pretty equally. It remains to be seen if this is a trend that will continue throughout the season, or it’s just a prolonged quarterback competition between the two. Considering that Penn State wouldn’t let Bolden transfer over the offseason, it’s kind of hard to delegate him to the bench. That being said, Bolden completed 50 percent of his passes, while McGloin connected on 75 percent.

It was a nice performance by the defense, allowing just 170 yards of total offense to the Sycamores. But it seems like kicker Evan Lewis might make us long for the good old days of “Kevin Kelly miss range.” Lewis was 0 for 2 on field goals (unofficially 1 for 3, with him connecting on his first attempt, which was negated by a false start) and missed an extra point. It looks like Evan Lewis miss range might start at the 1 foot line. Frightening.

All in all, a good performance. But we’ll learn a lot more about this team next week when they host Alabama.

Wait, there’s a basketball team?

Chambers already fan favorite at Penn State – ESPN college basketball blogger Dana O’Neill wrote a great article in new head coach Pat Chambers. Gotta like the idea of the head basketball coach handing out water bottles and t-shirts over in East Halls.